Ground Zero...8 Years Later

The best defense against terrorism is a strong offensive against terrorists. That work continues.
--President George W. Bush, 10/13/2001

In Oklahoma we have a remembrance of 9-11 that is always colored by our remebrance of 4-19. On April 19th, 1995 an American groups of terrorists, born and raised here on our soil, killed innocent women, men and children as surely as those hijackers did almost 8 years later. That scar has forever changed us here locally, as the scars from New York City, Washington D.C. and Pennsylvania have left an unmistakable mark on all of us.

I consider this nation changed since that day - changed economically, socially, ethically, patriotically, democratically and even theologically. I'm not sure its a change for the better. I do think that the initial surge, just like here in Oklahoma City after the Murrah Building bombing, was one of great compassion and unity. I just don't think that has lasted.

What has taken its place is fear. The sheer terror of that day in 2001 has lingered even more than the heartwarming feelings that surrounded the stories of selfless rescue attempts and the heroic courage of the first responders (not to mention the second and third and so on...). It is the "never again" mentality which drives us now, as if we could prevent such evil.

Story after story leaks out about how some law enforcement agencies knew about this hijacker or that one before that fateful day. They could have been stopped. The pieces should have been put together. The tragedy should have been averted. I'm afraid the truth is much harder than that.

What we have at times turned into in order to secure our sense of safety is the very thing that drove the hijackers to fly those planes into buildings...ideologically-driven protectionsts willing to do anything, even engage in absolute evil, to secure our "selves" or our ideas.

In the Gospel attributed to Mark, Jesus tells us that "Anyone who wanst to save his life will lose it, but anyone who loses his life for my sake, and for the sake of the Gospel, will save it" (Mark 8:35 NRSV Translation). In other words, there is no pain-free way to live, nor can we protect ourselves from all evil because we end up becoming evil when we do that. It comes down to this...if we must torture people in order to secure our lives, then we gain nothing but those lives for our souls are dead.

I believe that we are in the midst of another "great awakening" in terms of our awareness of one another, this planet and our relationship with God. I don't know what that will look like, but I do know this - I am not interested in theology than is unsustainable without fear, nor am I interested in patriotism or democracy that is unsustainable without fear.

It is time for a recovery of that word fear - it doesn't mean the same thing now that it did when it was written down. I'm good with biblical fear - the kind of respect and awe you have for a raging river or a twisting tornado - something else we are quite familiar with here. It is the fear generated by people interested only in their ratings, or in pursuing a political agenda, or worse yet saving a tired old idea of something that doesn't even exist anymore but which they are unwilling to let go...that's the soul-killing stuff.

I seek the God of Easter morning. The God who calls us to let go of the reins and trust that its not our bodies we're seeking to save but our souls. The God who calls us to awaken to the unimaginable possibility that our physical lives are not all that there is and that in the end, despite what the TV and internet would have you believe, love wins.